Deployment of Manufacturing Execution System (MES) at Shirakawa Factory: Aiming to Enhance and Streamline Factory Operations Globally
Dec. 11. 2024
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. (President and CEO: Satoru Yamamoto) has recently decided to deploy the manufacturing execution system (MES) platform of Rockwell Automation, at the company’s largest domestic factory in Shirakawa City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The factory will begin operations using the new platform in the second half of 2025. This comes as efforts to promote the use of digital technology in tire production, with the aim of enhancing and streamlining factory operations globally.
In recent years, the manufacturing industry has been facing numerous challenges, such as rapid changes in the business environment and the shortage of labor due to declining population of working age in Japan. In response to the need to share production planning know-how, enhance efficiency, and standardize data across manufacturing factories, as a first step, Sumitomo Rubber Industries has been working together with PTC, a company offering various digital technologies, to adopt PTC’s IoT platform and develop applications to integrate data, which differs among production lines within each factory and manufacturing sites, since 2019*. Presently, the system has been rolled out at nine of Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ 11 tire manufacturing sites, including all four factories in Japan, to build a high-quality, high-efficiency tire production system.
As step two, Sumitomo Rubber Industries will start running the MES platform in the second half of 2025. The deployment of the platform will accelerate data organization and enable the accumulation and sharing of values such as quality and production forecasts at a global level as internal know-how and knowledge. By linking the collected and managed data with the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, the corporate management can manage the status of manufacturing sites around the world. By sharing and utilizing data across the company, Sumitomo Rubber Industries aims to speed up decision-making and achieve efficient and sophisticated factory operations.
The Shirakawa Factory will start operations of the MES platform in the second half of 2025. Once the effects of the platform have been verified at the end of 2026, Sumitomo Rubber Industries will aim to standardize and roll out the platform to its factories in Japan and overseas. In its medium-term plan, Sumitomo Rubber Industries states its policy of focusing on promoting digital transformation (DX). The company will continue to focus on leveraging digital technology and developing human resources. From 2026 onwards, it will implement DX management and work to realize “Our Philosophy” by optimizing our business portfolio based on a vision of a sustainable society and by expanding our growth businesses.
* Sumitomo Rubber, Hitachi and PTC Collaborate to Deploy a High-Quality and High-Efficiency Tire Production Solution, Using Advanced AI and IoT Technologies (News release issued on October 3, 2019)
https://www.srigroup.co.jp/english/newsrelease/2019/sri/2019_085.html
Kenji Saito
Executive Officer, General Manager of Manufacturing HQ, Tyre Business HQ
Sumitomo Rubber Industries
“We believe that leveraging Rockwell Automation’s expertise and flexibility, and our strong partnership with PTC to the maximum will enable us to standardize manufacturing management and enhance operational efficiency globally, driving our growth. To implement DX management as set out in our management vision, we intend to deploy the MES system beginning with the domestic factory and other manufacturing sites thereafter. We will continue to collaborate with Rockwell Automation, a global leader in manufacturing, and embrace new challenges with a forward-looking approach, making full use of AI.”
James Glasson
Vice President, Global Industry Auto, Tire and Advanced Mobility
Rockwell Automation
“We are pleased to support Sumitomo Rubber by integrating our tire MES solution, FactoryTalk ProductionCentre, into their existing systems. This initiative will enhance operating efficiency, minimize manufacturing risks, reduce implementation costs and significantly accelerate speed to market.”
About Rockwell Automation
Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. We connect the imaginations of people with the potential of technology to expand what is humanly possible, making the world more productive and more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 27,000 problem solvers dedicated to our customers in more than 100 countries as of fiscal year end 2024. To learn more about how we are bringing the Connected Enterprise to life across industrial enterprises, visit www.rockwellautomation.com.
In recent years, the manufacturing industry has been facing numerous challenges, such as rapid changes in the business environment and the shortage of labor due to declining population of working age in Japan. In response to the need to share production planning know-how, enhance efficiency, and standardize data across manufacturing factories, as a first step, Sumitomo Rubber Industries has been working together with PTC, a company offering various digital technologies, to adopt PTC’s IoT platform and develop applications to integrate data, which differs among production lines within each factory and manufacturing sites, since 2019*. Presently, the system has been rolled out at nine of Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ 11 tire manufacturing sites, including all four factories in Japan, to build a high-quality, high-efficiency tire production system.
As step two, Sumitomo Rubber Industries will start running the MES platform in the second half of 2025. The deployment of the platform will accelerate data organization and enable the accumulation and sharing of values such as quality and production forecasts at a global level as internal know-how and knowledge. By linking the collected and managed data with the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, the corporate management can manage the status of manufacturing sites around the world. By sharing and utilizing data across the company, Sumitomo Rubber Industries aims to speed up decision-making and achieve efficient and sophisticated factory operations.
The Shirakawa Factory will start operations of the MES platform in the second half of 2025. Once the effects of the platform have been verified at the end of 2026, Sumitomo Rubber Industries will aim to standardize and roll out the platform to its factories in Japan and overseas. In its medium-term plan, Sumitomo Rubber Industries states its policy of focusing on promoting digital transformation (DX). The company will continue to focus on leveraging digital technology and developing human resources. From 2026 onwards, it will implement DX management and work to realize “Our Philosophy” by optimizing our business portfolio based on a vision of a sustainable society and by expanding our growth businesses.
* Sumitomo Rubber, Hitachi and PTC Collaborate to Deploy a High-Quality and High-Efficiency Tire Production Solution, Using Advanced AI and IoT Technologies (News release issued on October 3, 2019)
https://www.srigroup.co.jp/english/newsrelease/2019/sri/2019_085.html
Kenji Saito
Executive Officer, General Manager of Manufacturing HQ, Tyre Business HQ
Sumitomo Rubber Industries
“We believe that leveraging Rockwell Automation’s expertise and flexibility, and our strong partnership with PTC to the maximum will enable us to standardize manufacturing management and enhance operational efficiency globally, driving our growth. To implement DX management as set out in our management vision, we intend to deploy the MES system beginning with the domestic factory and other manufacturing sites thereafter. We will continue to collaborate with Rockwell Automation, a global leader in manufacturing, and embrace new challenges with a forward-looking approach, making full use of AI.”
James Glasson
Vice President, Global Industry Auto, Tire and Advanced Mobility
Rockwell Automation
“We are pleased to support Sumitomo Rubber by integrating our tire MES solution, FactoryTalk ProductionCentre, into their existing systems. This initiative will enhance operating efficiency, minimize manufacturing risks, reduce implementation costs and significantly accelerate speed to market.”
About Rockwell Automation
Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK), is a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation. We connect the imaginations of people with the potential of technology to expand what is humanly possible, making the world more productive and more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 27,000 problem solvers dedicated to our customers in more than 100 countries as of fiscal year end 2024. To learn more about how we are bringing the Connected Enterprise to life across industrial enterprises, visit www.rockwellautomation.com.